'Big Fan' comes to Staten Island --- and its director, too

First Independent PicturesPatton Oswalt and Kevin Corrigan, from left, cheer on their favorite team --- from the parking lot --- in "Big Fan." The film, which was shot and takes place on Staten Island, opens here tomorrow.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --- It took only a few minutes for my posted review of "Big Fan," an indie film that was shot and takes place on Staten Island, to generate the inevitable comments about how the good, small movies -- and "Big Fan" is certainly one of those -- never find a screen in our borough.

They're right, of course, the great majority of the time, but happily, they're not in this case. "Big Fan," written and directed by Rob Siegel (screenwriter of "The Wrestler") and starring Patton Oswalt as a single, thirtysomething schlub from Eltingville who still lives with his mother, works as a parking-garage attendant, and has to his disadvantage a deep and abiding interest in the New York Giants, is opening at the Atrium in Eltingville tomorrow.

"Big Fan" isn't getting just one token showing a day, but several, and what's more, Siegel will be appearing at the Atrium Saturday for a Q&A after the 7 p.m. screening.

And who doesn't love Q&A's with the filmmakers? You can listen as your neighbors ask silly questions, squirm uncomfortably as someone drags on without ever actually getting to the question they want to ask, and squirm even more when someone else turns actively hostile.

But seriously, if you're one of those Staten Islanders given to complaining that the borough never gets fair consideration when it comes to the movies that show here -- and I hear from you folks, all the time -- then make an effort to show up, if not for the Saturday evening screening then another one. This is a fine film (I gave it three and a half stars) and it's up to you now to support it.

I'm on your side, but most of the time most of you don't show up, which is why exhibitors like the Atrium won't take a lot of chances on smaller movies like "Big Fan." They need to make money, and they don't when they're playing films to an empty or near-empty theater.

I've been dipping into this issue throughout the 10 years that I've been a film critic here, and I'm sure I'll continue to do so. And I'll say it again -- Staten Island isn't alone. The great majority of the country never sees the little movies that show in Manhattan and Los Angeles. We're no different, except that we are because Islanders, given their proximity to Manhattan, are made aware of the good stuff they're missing while the folks in, say, Texarkana forever remain in the dark.

It isn't, and has never been a case, of local exhibitors deciding that Islanders are morons who can't appreciate anything deeper than "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." If anything, it's a case of a lot of Islanders making that case themselves by buying tickets for "G.I. Joe" and not for something like "Big Fan."

I've done everything I can. I gave the film a strong, deserved, review. I interviewed its director. I'm writing about it again now -- as did my editor, Rob Bailey, on page two of today's AWE. The film's publicists did their part to bring the movie and its director here, the Atrium is making its financial commitment, there's even a paid ad for "Big Fan" on page two of tomorrow's Advance. So check it out. You might even like it!